Blue Watch: Joleon Lescott always up to day job

Nov 29 2007 by Mark O'Brien, Liverpool Daily Post

SUCH was Everton’s overwhelming dominance on Saturday, it was hard to single out any individual for praise.

Everyone had a different contender for man-of-the-match from among four or five of the attacking players.

The defenders never had a great deal to do at all, despite the presence of the decent looking Kenwyne Jones, but still Joleon Lescott deserves a mention given the unfair treatment he has had regarding his performance for England against Croatia.

The Sunderland fans booed him at the start of the match, but that was always to be expected.

Some of the comments from the National Press though, about how Lescott isn’t up to scratch at the top level, were way over the top.

For a start he is a cracker, and that’s proven week-in, week-out, for Everton. We will certainly be delighted if he signs a new deal at Goodison, and a good number of managers at the richest clubs around will be rubbing their hands if he doesn’t.

More to the point though, he was far from the worst culprit at Wembley. If the ex-Wolves man isn’t up to the mark thanks to that performance, what does that say about, say, the anonymous Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard or the appalling Wayne Bridge and Micah Richards?

If it was up to most Evertonians, our players would be spared international duty, for several reasons we have explored before.

However, we accept that players are liable to be more settled at Goodison if they are being recognised by their countries – if Mikel Arteta got the odd game for Spain, for instance, we perhaps wouldn’t see him linked to Atletico Madrid every other week.

For that reason then, it’s to be hoped that Lescott plays plenty more games for England and that he doesn’t let the short-sighted criticism he’s had affect his confidence and, most importantly, his performances for Everton, a club that values him very highly indeed.

Hickson’s cups will always cheer

IT goes without saying that everyone involved with Everton wishes Dave Hickson a speedy recovery. The news that he had been rushed to hospital before Saturday’s game cast a pall over the otherwise celebratory occasion.

To the more senior generation, Hickson is famous for being one of the legends that make the number nine jersey so revered at this club, while to those slightly younger he is probably better known for summing up his love of the club with his quote about breaking every bone in his body for his other clubs but being willing to die for Everton.

In recent years his passion for all things Everton has been passed on through his work as the guide on the brilliant Goodison stadium tour.

And it’s testament to him that the first thing that Evertonians say after they’ve been shown around the ground is “It was fantastic, Dave Hickson made us a cup of tea!”

A genuinely lovely man – get well soon.

Meanwhile, plenty of exotic names are being linked with the vacant national manager’s job, as we apparently need someone to revolutionise the way the game is played in this country, to make us more like those free-flowing Croatians.

With that in mind, surely two of the suppose front-runners, Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho, must be ruled out straight away. After all, games between their teams were always like watching expensive versions of John Beck’s Preston versus Harry Bassett’s Crazy Gang.